Improvement in magneto-electric telegraphs



G; W. BEARDSLEE.

Dial Telegraph.

3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

Patented Aug. 4, 1863.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Dial Telegraph.

Patented Aug. 4. 1863.

G. w; BEARDSLEE.

A- In Wain/aims;

- '3 sheets -sheers. G. w. BEARDSLEE.

Dial Telegraph.

Patented Aug. 4, 1863.

N. PETERS. Plwlo-Luihngnphar. washing n I;

UNITED STATES PATENT Orrrcat GEORGE W. BEABDSLEE, OF COLLEGE POINT, NEWYORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAGNETO-ELECTRIC TELEGR APHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,376, dated August 4,1863.

To all whom it may concerar Be it known that I, GEORGE W. BEARDS- LEE,of College Point, Queens county, and State of New York, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Magneto-Electric Telegraphs; andI do hereby declare that the followingis a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accoman in drawin smakin )art of this-s )ecification, in which Figure 1 is a top view of anapparatus on my improved plan; Fig. 2, a vertical section taken at theline A a of Fig. 1, but with the pointer or needle and the handle foroperating the apparatus in a different position; and Fig. 3, ahorizontal section taken at the line B I) of Fig. 2.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

The leading object of my said invention in telegraphing bymagneto-electricity is to enable the operator, by the operation or movement which he makes to designate or select the character or sign whichhe desires to transmit, to develop the electric current by which suchcharacter or sign is transmitted; and to this end my said inventionconsists in the employment of a magneto-electric engine by the rotationof which electric impulses are induced alternately in oppositedirections, connected by suitable conductors with electromagnets thepolarity of which is alternately reversed by the alternately-reversedimpulses induced by the engine and an interposed vibrating permanentmagnet or armature, which is caused to vibrate by thealternately-reversed polarity of the electro-magnets, when these arecombined with a mechanism which, as the operator indicates or designatesthe characters or signs which he desires to transmit, will operate themagneto-electric engine, and thereby develop (or generate)theelectricimpulses wh ichtransmit such character or sign; and thesecond part of my said invention consists in combining with theforegoing or the equivalent thereof, an escapement to indicate ordevelop the character or sign transmitted.

In the accompanying drawings, (t represents a wheel of radial magnetsconstructed on the plan described in Letters Patent granted to me, andbearing date the 27th day of December, 1859. Six radial magnets arerepresented and lettered, according to their polarity, alternatelyN andS. This wheel of magnetsis composed of a series of plates of the formrepresented, an d secured to a vertical shaft, 1), mounted in suitablebearings, as represented. Above this wheel of radial magnets is arrangeda series of spools, 0, there being as many spools in each series asthere are arms in the wheel of magnets.

On the lower end of the shaft there is a cogged pinion, d, which engagesthe cogs of a wheel, e, which, in turn, engages the cogs of a largewheehf, the hub g of which is mounted to turn on a hollow stud, h,secured to a platform or bed-plate.

The shaft b is provided with a ratchet-wheel, j, and pawl k, to preventthe wheel from turn ing in the contrary direction of the arrow.

On therim of the wheel f are mounted three (more or less) standards, I,to the upper ends of which is securedarin g, m, the arms of which arecurved upward, and are united to a small rim, to which a handle, a, issecured, and by this handle the operator imparts motion to the wheel f,and thence, through the intermediate wheel, 0, and the pinion (I, to thewheel of mag nets a.

Above and concentric with the rim m there is a circular dial, 0, withthree concentric cir-v cles of characters, divided each into thirtyequal parts, marked with the-required characters. In the center of thesaid dial there is a central shaft, 12, which carries above the dial ahand or pointer, q, and below the dial a toothed wheel, 1-, with fifteenteeth-that is, half as many teeth as there are divisions in one circleof the dial. vided with an opening, 8, to enable the operator to seethecharacters on the dial, that he may stop the said handle over anyone ofthe divisions on the dial.

The proportions of the cog wheels which communicate the rotary motionfrom the handle n to the wheel of magnets to are five to one, so thatthe wheel of magnets shall make five revolutions for each revolution ofthe handle and its pointer, and as there are six magnets in the circle,and. each magnet, in passing a spool, will give an impnlse, there willbe thirty electric impulses given for every revolution of the handle,and therefore as many impulses as there are divisions in one circle ofthe dial.

The handle n is also pro Any variation may be made in these proportions, provided the number of magnets and the revolutions of the magnetshear such a relation to the dial that one impulse shall be given foreach division of the dial;

Below the dial are placed two pairs of electro-magnets, t t. The twopairs are placed with their poles at a given and suitable distanceapart, and between these poles is placed a pendulous permanent magnet,u, on a rocking shaft, 22, and from this shaft an arm, 10, extends up,and its upper end is forked to extend each side of the toothed wheel 1',and the pron gs of this fork are formed into pallets a0 90 at suchdistance apart that in the vibration, as one pallet on one side of theaxis of the wheel acts on one cog to turn the wheel, the other pallet onthe other side graduallyliberates and permits the cog which it held toescape, so that each vibration turns the wheel the distance of half acog, and as the wheel has but fifteen cogs, each vibration in onedirection will move the pointer q the distance of one division of thedial.

The wires of the several spools are connected with each other by theconducting wires y in the usual manner of magneto-electric engines, andas represented in Fig. 3; and the first of the series of spools isconnected by a conducting wire, 2, with a metallic lug, a, and the lastof the series is connected by the conductingwire I) with anothermetallic lug, 0. A metallic conducting-switch, d, is pivoted to a thirdmetallic lug, 6, so that the said switch can be shifted at will and putinto conducting contact either with the lug a or the lug 0. One of theterminal wires (marked f) of the pairs of electro-magnets is attached tothe lug c, and the other terminal, g,is connected with the ground orother return conductor at the hitcher G, and the lug c is connected withthe line conductor or hitcher L. The line and ground or other returnconductors are to be in like manner connected with a similar apparatusat the other station.

For the purposes of this description I will denominate the two stationsA and B.

When the switch (1 at either station is in contact with the lug a andthe wheel of m agnets is turned one-sixth of a revolution, so as to moveanyone of theradial magnets from one of the spools to the next in theseries in the direction of the arrow, which is effected by moving thehandle a the distance of one division on the dial 0, an electric impulseis generated, and acts alongthe conductingwire b through the lug c toand along the line -conductor to station B, thence through theinstrument at that station and back by the ground or other returnconductor to and along the conducting-wire g to and through the coils ofthe electro -magnets t and -t, thence by the terminal conductor f to thelug 0, through the switch d to the lug a, and from that by the conductora to the series of coilszof the engine, Theimpulse thus induced givespolarity to the electro-magnets t t,by which the pendulous magnet a isvibrated in one direction by the joint attraction and repulsion of theopposing poles of the electro-magnets. This one division the hand orpointer q is impelled.

or caused to move the same distance. The next motion of the handle a thedistance of another division, on the dial will cause the wheel ofmagnets to turn to the extent of another division, which will generateanother electric impulse in the contrary direction to the first, theeffect of which will be to reverse the polarity of all theelectro-magnets, and thereby vibrate the pendulous magnetu in theopposite direction, which will move the hand or pointer q the distanceof another division on the dial. In this way, as the handle at is movedaround the dial in passing each division, the magnet u is caused tovibrate, and alternately in opposite directions, and at each vibrationit moves the hand or pointer q the distance of one division, followingthe handle all around the circle, and stopping wherever the handle isstopped, and again starting whenever the handle is moved. Now, as theelectro-magnets at station B are in the same circuit with theelectro-magnets at station A, it follows that the hand or pointer g atboth stations will be moved alike by the same electric impulses, andthat this will be the result whether the electric impulses be generatedby the magneto-electric engine at station A or at station B.

The object of the switch d is to enable the operator at either stationto throw his magneto-electric engine out of the circuit, leaving hiselectro magnets in the circuit with the other station. This is effectedby simply shifting the switch from the lug a to the lug c,

which will close the circuit outside of the en gine--as, for instance,if the switch at sta tion A be so shifted, the impulse from station B,coming along the ground conductor, will, after passing around theelectro-magnets at station A, pass along the terminal f to the lug c,thence along the switch 01 to the lug c, and thence by the shortest wayto the lineconductor, to return to the engine at station B withoutpassing through the coils of the engine at station A; and so in likemanner with the other station, if the switch be there shifted. So thatwhen the operator at either station desires to transmit a message hesimply shifts the switch to the lug a, whichconmeets his engine in thecircuit with the electromagnets at both stations. Without this everyimpulse given at one station would be required to pass through all thecoils of the engine at the other station, which would tend to reduce thepower of the impulses, while at the same time it might be injurious tothe magnets,

From the foregoing it will be seen that whatever characters may be onthe dials the operator at one station,by turning the handle a andstopping it over the character or sign on any one division of the dial,will cause the hand or pointer g at the other station to stop oppositethe same character or sign on the dial at that station, the hand orpointer g at his own station coming to and stopping opposite the likecharacter or sign, which simply verifies but it will be obvious that theconnection may be directly between the engine at one station and theelectro-magnets at the other station, in which event the operator willsimply lose the advantage of having before him the verification of thecharacter or sign which he has transmitted.

It will be obvious that instead of two pairs of electro magnets with apermanent vibrating magnet interposed, a single pair of electromagnetswith a spring-armature may be substituted, the elcctro-magnets movingthe armature in one direction and the spring in the opposite directionbut by such substitution the impulse will have to overcome the tensionof herein claimed, the employment of the escapement, or the equivalentthereof, operated by the vibrating magnet-0r armature, substantially asherein described, to indicate or develop the character or signtransmitted, as set forth.

GEO. W. BEARDSLEE. Witnesses:

WM. H. BISHOP, A. DE LACY.

